Tex Times Ten (13 page)

“Surprise?” Cissy asked. “Last time you surprised me, I think you jumped out my window.”

“I’m not jumping anywhere this time.” He tapped her lightly on the nose. “And you’ll see soon enough.”

They heard footsteps on the boat, heavy feet. “That must be Ranger,” she said, turning, only to hear the sound of male voices.

Tex waved her downstairs. Quietly, she faded into a corridor, waiting under the stairwell in case Tex needed her help. She couldn’t do much, but she wasn’t going to leave him.

“Well, hello, Officers,” she heard Tex say. “If you’re coming aboard for lunch, I’m afraid the boat is closed for a week or two.”

“We’re looking for a female by the name of Cissy Kisserton.”

Cissy gasped, then covered her mouth.

“Have you seen her?”

“What would you want with her?” Tex asked.

“We need to turn her over to the authorities in
Dallas. Apparently, she’s accused of theft by her employer. Have you seen her, sir?”

“She’s my wife,” Tex said, and Cissy closed her eyes.

“Hmm. This paperwork doesn’t say anything about a husband. Single female, white, blond hair, blue eyes—”

“That’s Cissy,” Tex said, “but she wouldn’t steal anything. What’s she accused of taking?”

“We can’t answer those questions. She needs to come with us, so that we can give her over to the proper authorities in Texas. They can tell you anything you need to know.”

“But she’s been with me,” Tex argued. “How could she have stolen something?”

Cissy clasped her hands together. She could go out the back door and escape, but that would put her on the run. She was tired of running. She could stay and face whatever charges Marvella had brought against her—which wouldn’t stand up in court.

On the other hand, it could take a long time to resolve.

“When were you married?” an officer asked Tex.

“Yesterday.”

“But this says Miss Kisserton left her employer’s house yesterday. How could you have gotten married? Had the marriage license been applied for previously?”

“We don’t have a marriage license. We were married by a medicine man.”

The officers laughed.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to turn her over to us. We’re sorry.”

After a moment, Tex called down to her. “Cissy?”

Slowly, she went up the stairs.

The officers stared at her.

“You’re not a blond female,” one pointed out. “You have very short, extremely dark hair.” He glared at Tex as if there was a joke being played on him.

“Are you Cissy Kisserton?” the other officer asked.

“Yes,” she said softly.

“Hey, Marvella,” he called. “She’s here.” And they began stripping off their officer’s uniforms. “Dang, that’s hot,” he said. “How do those cops wear those stupid things?”

Cissy clutched Tex’s hand as Marvella came into view.

“They’re not married,” one of the fake cops said. “Unless you count a voodoo license.”

But Marvella wasn’t listening. Disbelieving, she approached Cissy, touching her hair with one finger. “Your hair,” she said. “Your beautiful hair. What have you done?”

And then Cissy remembered the Ugly Clause in the contract that Mimi had mentioned. “I cut it off. It’s gone forever.”

“Sexy, isn’t it?” Tex said cheerfully. “She’s got that trashy kind of thing going now, doesn’t she?”

Marvella rubbed a strand of Cissy’s hair between two fingers. “Tell me this is dye that washes off.”

“Permanent,” Cissy said. “Blondes do not have more fun.”

“You’ve ruined yourself,” Marvella said. “Who do you think will ever want you like this? It would take two years for your hair to get that long again. Maybe three!”

“And that’s past the term of the contract,” Tex said cheerfully.

“You’re damaged goods,” Marvella stated, suddenly wrathful. “All that elegance down the drain. This is all your fault!” she said to Tex.

“Actually, I’m the innocent party here. I didn’t want her to change anything, either. But it’s what she wanted, and you know, I like her doing what she wants.”

But Marvella could only shake her head. “You’re worth nothing to me now.”

Cissy touched the strands of hair at her neck, staring at her employer.

“If she’s worth nothing to you, how ’bout you leave, then?” Tex suggested. “And take your goons with you. Because we’ve got some serious plans.”

“How about I have my goons take care of your smart mouth?” Marvella snapped. “Out here, no one would know what happened to you. And then I could let them have Cissy for all their hard work.”

Fear ran through Cissy, until the sounds of truck doors slamming and kids running toward the boat, yelling “Aunt Cissy! Aunt Cissy!” caught her attention.

Four Jefferson men ran toward the boat to keep up
with the kids. “How-dee!” Navarro called. “Boy, is this some setup or what?”

Last skidded to a halt when he saw Marvella and her goons. “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

When they didn’t reply, he put his fingers in his teeth and whistled sharply. “Boys! We got ourselves some trouble!”

Instantly, the Jefferson men jumped onto the boat, heading with whoops toward Marvella’s hired guns. Cissy shooed the children downstairs so they wouldn’t get caught in the melee. She heard a splash and a shriek as they were heading down the stairs.

“What was that?” the children asked.

The shriek was definitely feminine. “I think the wicked witch just took a much-needed bath,” she told them. “Come on. Let’s fix you some peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.”

“Are they fighting?” one of the children asked.

“No,” Cissy said with a smile. “The Jefferson brothers are just having a little fun.”

“I want to go have some fun!”

“Not that kind of fun. You sit right here and I’ll fix you some grape soda.” And then Cissy realized that the children were her surprise from Tex, and her heart went finally, irrevocably over the edge.

A
FTER THEY’D CALLED
the police to take away Marvella and her thugs, the brothers joined Cissy and the children downstairs.

“This reminds me of the old days,” Last said cheerfully as he sat at the table with eight of Cissy’s nieces and nephews. The baby had stayed home with
Gran. “Only now I’m the biggest at the table,” he told the children. “But if you’ll notice those ugly knots standing around the room,” Last said, pointing to his brothers, “I’m the baby around them.”

The children couldn’t imagine Last being a “baby” because he was so tall, as all the Jefferson men were. Cissy smiled at their innocent awe. “It’s a wonderful surprise,” she whispered to Tex. “What made you do it?”

“We might as well kick off our honeymoon with eight little firecrackers,” he said. “Besides, I thought Gran would like me better if I gave her a little timeout. She needed a caretaker’s respite.” He kissed her on the temple. “I love your hair,” he said. “Next week, we’re going red.”

She leaned against him, remembering her part as Last glanced over at them. “You’re so adventurous.”

“You have no idea. I always considered myself a man of the soil, but now I’m thinking I may go over to the watery side of life.”

“You could raise water lilies,” Cissy said. “Or cattails.”

“Say. Aren’t you the bright, helpful one.” He tugged gently at her hair.

“So. You really got married,” Last said. His brothers looked up at the change of conversation. “I don’t know that I believe it.”

“Believe it,” Tex said. “I hooked this little gal fair and square.”

Last frowned. “When did this all come about? I gotta tell you, Mason about jumped through the roof when I told him. He said he’s tired of this family
running off half cocked, getting married like thieves in the night.”

“Do thieves get married in the night?” Tex asked easily, opening a soda. “I’m thinking they’re busy working then.”

“You know what I mean,” Last said with determination. “You’re the fourth brother to just up and marry like it’s no big thing. I mean, is it or not?”

“So who’s upset? You or Mason?”

“We all are. How would you feel if I got married and didn’t tell you?”

Tex thought about that. “Well, it would surprise me, since you’ve always been the moral compass of the family. But if it was the right thing for you to do, I’d send you a gift and my congratulations.”

“Shoot.” Last looked at Cissy. “I smell a rat, and his name is Tex.”

“No need for you to be so suspicious,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Would he have asked you to bring eight kids out here if he didn’t have honorable intentions?”

Last rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re too good for him,” he told Cissy. “If he decides to fade out on you, you can call me.”

She sensed he was talking that way just to get a reaction out of Tex. But Tex just shrugged. “Ever the worrier. Eat your jelly sandwich, Last. These little children are monkey-see, monkey-do, and you’re the biggest monkey they’ve seen lately.”

B
ANDERA
, C
ROCKETT
, N
AVARRO
, Last and Tex sat on the lounge chairs or stood at the rail while Cissy
put the children down for a nap. The kids had run all over the docks and the surrounding land, throwing pine cones, counting clouds and generally wearing the Jefferson brothers out. Tex grinned, thinking his brothers deserved the workout they’d gotten.

“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for bringing the kids. You shoulda seen Cissy’s face light up.”

“She likes those little barn swallows,” Bandera said. “You’d best be careful or you’re going to end up pushing a stroller.”

“Nah.” Tex tossed some peanut shells into the water, watching small fish inspect them curiously.

“We noticed your face lit up pretty good, too, when you realized the cavalry had arrived,” Navarro said. “Lucky we weren’t letting Last drive or we might have gotten here five minutes after you were taking a dunking.”

“True.” Tex grinned. “I did think there for a minute that I might have let Cissy down.”

Last opened a soda and looked his way. “So is that the trade-off? You take care of Cissy, and get her out of her contract, and she gives you respectability?”

“No!” Tex glared at his brother. “Why can’t you believe that our marriage is the real deal?”

“Because I know you. And by the way, guess who got stuck cleaning up the mess you made in the rose garden? Huh? And I do mean stuck,” Last said sourly. “Those thorns were everywhere! Of course, I am always the one who gets to tidy up after you numbskulls.”

“Whew,” Crockett said. “With Mason as the old
est, and Last as the youngest, we’re bookkended by the two family sourpusses.”

Tex grinned. “You know, it’s not as bad having a few of us around. It’s the total sum that’s irritating.”

“Yeah, but I miss Frisco Joe, and Ranger, and Laredo,” Bandera said.

Tex tossed a peanut shell and thought about Laredo. “I thought I’d miss my twin, but it’s not as hard as I thought, since I know he’s happy.”

“Yeah, but everybody moved away. Even you’re moving away,” Last said.

“No. I’m not.” Tex shook his head.

Nobody said anything and he glanced up, seeing all his brothers staring at him.

“Do you mean that Cissy’s coming to live at the ranch?” Last asked. “There’ll be a woman there besides Helga?”

Navarro, Crockett and Bandera began clapping. “No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Tex said, his face turning red. “Of course I wouldn’t bring Cissy to live at Malfunction Junction. That’d be the worst thing that could happen to her.”

“Dang,” Navarro said. “It wouldn’t hurt for our female population to grow. Cissy might have some friends who could liven things up a bit.”

“Or, most important, take Mason off our hands,” Crockett said, to which Navarro and Bandera huzzahed enthusiastically.

Refusing to be sidetracked, Last pinned an eagle’s eye on Tex. “So,” Last said, “help me out here with
the logistics. How’s Cissy not going to live at Malfunction Junction, but you’re not moving away?”

W
HEN THE CHILDREN AWAKENED
from their nap, Cissy led them upstairs to have a snack. The brothers took them swimming, and when the children tired of riding around on the men’s backs, they went on deck and opened a can of corn to toss to the fish.

It was the most fun Cissy could remember having.

Last sidled up to her while she was laying little shirts over a rail to dry. “I hope you’ll call us if you need anything now that you’re part of the family.”

She smiled at him. “Tex and I will be fine. But thank you.”

“You make sure he treats you right,” Last said eagerly. “He did marry you legally, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Cissy said with a laugh. “Better than legal. He followed in Ranger’s footsteps, and I’d say that worked out very well for him and Hannah.”

“Well.” Last scratched at his neck. “I guess if two people can stand traveling the country in a truck with nothing but the sound of each other to keep them company besides the radio, then they belong together.”

“You see?” Cissy turned over a little shirt that was nearly dry. “Conventional ways are not the only ways.”

“Yeah, but I’d still feel better if he married you in a church,” Last said hopefully. “I don’t trust Tex. Not to be indelicate, but I know that there was a matter of a contract—”

“And all that is resolved,” Cissy interrupted.
“The contract was broken by my employer. And Tex hasn’t bolted. He doesn’t need to stay with me anymore. But he is.” She smiled at Last, keeping up her part of the bargain with Tex.

“I guess so.” But he didn’t look convinced. “Where are you two going to live?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a whirlwind courtship, hasn’t it?”

“That it has.” Last stared at her. “Almost too cyclonic.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked.

“Me? No way. I’m too busy taking care of the family to have a girl. Mason thinks he does all the worrying about the Family Problem—that’s what he calls it. However, it is actually me who worries with efficacy. I find the solutions.”

“Are you glad Tex married me?”

He nodded. “I am. I’m just not certain you didn’t get the short end of the stick.”

Cissy patted his arm. “I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. And see those children out there stickying Tex up with corn juice? They’re getting something they haven’t had in a long time.”